Diane Bruce

Violinist Diane Bruce performs regularly at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center with the American Symphony, American Composers Orchestra and American Ballet Theater, among others. She has served as Principal Second of the Chautauqua Symphony since 1993. She has played for many Broadway shows, including Les Mis, An American in Paris and The King and I, at Radio City for the Christmas Spectacular and with The Berkshire Bach Society.

Diane received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in music from the Juilliard School.

In addition to maintaining a violin teaching studio in Metuchen, NJ, she is an AmSat certified teacher of the Alexander Technique www.dianebrucealexandertechnique.com

When not performing or teaching Diane enjoys swimming and biking, gardening, meditation and playing fetch with her indefatigable Whippet, Bebti.

Luke Fitzpatrick

Lauded by the South Florida Classical Review for his “vivacious and buoyant” playing, flutist Luke Fitzpatrick is the recently appointed second flutist with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. During the year, Luke serves as the principal flutist of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. He has held principal positions with the Des Moines Metropolitan Opera, the Sarasota Opera, and the Artosphere Festival Orchestra.

Passionate about education, Luke is the professor of Flute at the Purdue University of Fort Wayne in Indiana, where he conducts the flute ensemble. He is also the co-founder and director of the Bonita Boyd International Master Class, “The Artistic Flutist,” a summer flute intensive at the Eastman School of Music that draws musicians from all over the world.

Luke holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, Carnegie Mellon University, and The Colburn School.

Luke is overjoyed to be returning to Chautauqua this summer to make music with his incredibly talented colleagues here in New York.

Christopher Fischer

Christopher Fischer is the Principal Violist of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, having previously served as Assistant Principal from 2015–2017. In the Chautauqua off-season, Mr. Fischer is a member of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Previous engagements have included Assistant Principal Viola of the North Carolina Symphony, Fellow at the New World Symphony, and Principal Viola of the Midland-Odessa Symphony. Born in Columbia, Missouri, Mr. Fischer holds degrees from Indiana University and University of Missouri. His principal teachers have included Atar Arad, Leslie Perna, and Yuval Gotlibovitch.

As a chamber musician, he has appeared frequently on the Cincinnati Symphony’s Chamber Players series, and has performed with the Borromeo Quartet, the Mallarme Chamber Players, and was a member of the Permian Basin String Quartet. He has been featured as a soloist with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra and the Brussels Chamber Orchestra. Playing with the International Sejong Soloists, a chamber orchestra based in New York City, he performed nationally televised concerts at the Great Mountains Music Festival in South Korea. As a member of the North Carolina Symphony’s Ensembles in the Schools String Quartet, he performed outreach concerts for students across North Carolina. Mr. Fischer teaches at the Cincinnati School for the Creative and Performing Arts, and has previously taught at Miami University, North Carolina State University, and the University of Texas at the Permian Basin.

Kieran Hanlon

Kieran J. Hanlon is Associate Professor of Bass and Jazz at The State University of New York at Fredonia.

Kieran is an active orchestral performer, and holds contracts as Principal Bass of the Erie Philharmonic and Section Bass in the Chautauqua Symphony. In addition to frequent engagements as a freelance classical musician in upstate New York, Kieran is a first call Jazz performer in the area. As a guest clinician, Kieran has presented workshops and masterclasses at several conservatories and universities around the United States.

Kieran completed a Master of Music Degree in Double Bass Performance at the Eastman School of Music with Professor of Double Bass James VanDemark. He also completed Eastman’s Orchestral Studies Diploma Program. Kieran’s undergraduate studies were completed at The University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance in April of 2012, where he studied classical repertoire with Professors Diana Gannett and Stephen Molina and Jazz with Professor Robert Hurst.

Outside of the music world, Kieran enjoys spending time with wife Elizabeth Hanlon (Fredonia faculty: clarinet,) and daughter Eva. He also spends time working on his house and vehicles, gardening, biking, hiking, boating, and enjoying quality time in fellowship with good friends and colleagues.

Daniel Kaler

A member of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra since 2022 and 2024, respectively, cellist Daniel Kaler received his B.M from the Cleveland Institute of Music and M.M from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, studying with Mark Kosower and Brinton Smith.

In recent years, Kaler performed with orchestras such as the Bogotá Philharmonic, Boca del Rio Philharmonic, Asheville Symphony, Oistrakh Symphony of Chicago, Chautauqua Music School Festival Orchestra, to name a few. He was a prizewinner at competitions such as the Clara Schumann International Competition, Muse International Music Competition, and the North International Music Competition. His concert engagements for the 2023-24 season include performances of works by Bach, Brahms, Kodály, and Tchaikovsky.

Kaler attended and gave performances at solo, chamber, and orchestral programs, such as the Chautauqua Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, Heifetz Institute, Bowdoin International Music Festival, North Shore Chamber Music Festival, and Chicago Cultural Center. Appearances include performances on WFMT’s “Introductions”, WCLV 104.9, as well as WCPN’s “Applause Performances”.

Roger Kaza

Roger Kaza rejoined the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra as Principal Horn in the fall of 2009, after 14 years with the Houston Symphony. He was previously third horn of the SLSO during the Leonard Slatkin era, and prior to that held positions in the Vancouver BC Symphony, Boston Symphony, and the Boston Pops, where he was solo horn under John Williams. In addition to his SLSO duties, Kaza is Principal Horn of the Chautauqua Symphony in New York, and has played guest principal with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, and the symphonies of San Francisco, Dallas, Detroit, and Utah, among others. A native of Portland, Oregon, he attended Portland State University, studying with Pat Fay and Christopher Leuba, and later transferred to the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he received a Bachelor of Music with Honors in 1977 under the tutelage of Thomas E. Newell, Jr.

The son of two musicians growing up in a musical family, Kaza received his early training on piano with Lenore Cowling, giving two solo recitals on that instrument before concentrating on horn. He has studied composition with the late Czech-American composer Tomas Svoboda and conducting with Leonard Slatkin, Gunther Schuller, and Murry Sidlin. He has conducted more than 40 concerts with members of the Houston Symphony under the auspices of its Community Connections outreach program, giving free concerts in schools, churches, homeless shelters, and retirement homes.

As an educator, Kaza has served on the faculties of the University of Houston, Rice University, St. Louis Conservatory, University of Missouri-St. Louis, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, Tanglewood, Chautauqua, and has given master classes at the Eastman School, Juilliard, Curtis, Indiana University, University of Michigan, and many others. In 2019 he was invited to serve as faculty for Yo-Yo Ma’s YMCG festival in Guangzhou, China. His students fill orchestral positions worldwide, including major U.S. symphonies and chamber groups such as the American Brass Quintet. In addition, he has been engaged as a featured artist for the International Horn Society at its annual convention. He is creator of the humorous instructional CD, Audition: Improbable, and a contributor to the syndicated NPR radio show and podcast, Engines of Our Ingenuity.

Kaza has appeared as soloist with many orchestras, including the St. Louis, Vancouver, and Houston symphonies, and the Carlos Chavez Chamber Orchestra in Mexico City. In 2021 he performed the world premiere of Stefan Freund’s Voyageur Fantasy, a work commissioned by the SLSO in honor of the Missouri Bicentennial. A frequent chamber musician as well, he performs regularly with the Chamber Music Society of St. Louis, Ariel Concert Series, and numerous summer venues, including the Bravo! Vail Valley Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, Mainly Mozart, Strings in the Mountains, the Aspen, and Marrowstone festivals.

An avid cyclist, hiker, and whitewater rafter, Kaza is especially fond of the horn in its original setting: out-of-doors. A performance of Olivier Messiaen’s “Interstellar Call,” from his suite From the Canyons to the Stars, recorded at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, was personally critiqued by the composer shortly before his death in 1992.

In 2023, Kaza was named Principal Conductor of the Metropolitan Orchestra of St. Louis, an ensemble comprised of the metro area’s top freelancers, sharing the stand with a handful of elite students.